When the gardens are in full bloom, it’s always fun to make a freshly picked bouquet. But what if you could make your flowers last forever? I recently introduced myself to the art of flower pressing – a free, ecofriendly activity for all ages – and I want to bring you along for the ride!
Do you want to make art from your own flowers, too? In this post, I’ll show you how I made our flower press and how we’re making our flower art.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 pieces of inch thick wood (pre-cut or you can cut to size. We made ours slightly larger than 8×10)
- 4 (or however many you want) pieces of 1/4 inch thick wood (same size as above)
- 4 (or however many you want) pieces of cardboard cut to size (I reused a box from shipping)
- White cardstock paper
- Sanding block
- Scissors
- Drill and drill bit (drill bit slightly larger than bolt size)
- Four 4-6 inch bolts
- Four washers
- Four wingnuts
Instructions
If you don’t get your wood pre-cut, you’ll want to measure and cut the wood to size. I like to put a little piece of tape when I cut to help prevent chipping on the ends. I took some scrap wood I had leftover from another project and cut it slightly larger than an 8×10 paper. I used two thicker pieces (1 inch) for the top and bottom while using thin wood (1/4 inch) and cardboard for the middle layers. Once the wood was cut to size, I sanded the edges with my sanding block.
When I had everything cut to size, I drilled a hole in each of the four corners to prepare it for the bolts. I put the bolts, washers and wing nuts in for a quick test to make sure they tightened properly and the bolt holes were big enough. Success!
Let the picking commence! Tip: It’s best to pick on a dry morning with no rain from the previous evening. We opted for mid-morning after the dew had passed.
Once we had enough picked, we cut down the stems and laid the flowers as flat as possible on the cards stock to made pretty designs. We had all the layers of the press filled like this: wood, paper, flowers, paper, cardboard. Repeat. Then we put the washers and wing nuts on and tightened it as much as possible.
Now we wait a month to see how everything turned out! I’m hoping to frame these so we can always remember our first summer in our forever home.
Questions or comments? Drop me a line below!
